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WRC: Latvala leads Rally Sweden by 23 seconds heading into final day

February 10, 2012

Jari-Matti Latvala is looking to win Rally Sweden for the second time in four years. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala is aiming to repeat his win on Rally Sweden of three years ago--his first in the World Rally Championship--as the flying Finn takes an advantage of 23 seconds into the final day.

Latvala fought all day Saturday for the lead with Citroën's Mikko Hirvonen, extending his advantage slightly by the end of the running. The two Finns were teammates last year but are now rivals, since Hirvonen joined Citroën for the 2012 season.

“It's been a really good battle that myself and Mikko have both enjoyed,” Latvala said. “We're still good friends, but it's a lot more psychological between us now that we're in different teams. We try to wind each other up and psyche each other out. I don't think that 23 seconds is a particularly big lead, though. Anything can still happen on the final day, particularly on the second run through the stages when they won't be in such good condition.”

Indeed, with six more stages to go, nothing is guaranteed. But Latvala is rightly confident after his impressive performance on Saturday, during which he managed his tire strategy perfectly. Hirvonen did admit that he would need “a miracle” to claim his third win in Sweden in as many attempts.

“I was going as hard as I could today, and Jari-Matti actually took a bit of time off me,” the Citroën driver said. “I'm going to be trying hard but I'll need some good luck too.”

Third-place Petter Solberg fell off the lead pace on Saturday, though he regained some speed when he switched to Ford teammate Latvala's setup. The former champion was able to fend off the hard-charging Mads Ostberg, despite feeling that he was still getting the hang of the Ford Fiesta RS WRC on the ever-changing mix of snow, ice and gravel.

"It's maybe the toughest rally for me to just jump in," Solberg said. "Tomorrow will be a hard day."

Saturday, however, was not the finest day of eight-time world champion Sébastien Loeb's illustrious career. Though the Citroën driver had recovered quickly from 11th to seventh on Friday afternoon following his early excursion into a snowbank, a spin on Saturday morning and a punctured tire in the afternoon hampered further progress. Consequently, he was only able to gain one more place into sixth overall, edging ahead of Ford privateer Henning Solberg.